Wake Up, Robin
by Thomas Tom Tom
Summary: While returning from a mission in Russia, the T-Jet is shot down and the Titans left in the storm. Robin is badly injured. Awakening in a mountain hospice run by two superheroes, Raven will come to terms with her feelings for the Boy Wonder. Second story. RobRae. Rated T. No character deaths, I promise! The dropbox link in the Epilogue may not work. Shout at me if it is so.
1. Chapter 1 - Crash

"**Wake Up, Robin" - Chapter I: Crash**

The T-Jet flew westward through the driving snow and wind. All of the Titans were in their respective pods – bar Starfire, who'd been dropped off at the nuclear base in Russia where Red Star had made his home and would be making her own way back to the States.

Raven looked out of the plexiglass canopy with unease. She hated not being in control of where she was going, and she was also slightly disturbed by the storm that buffeted the craft around and shot snow into the engine pods. Cyborg had said (quoting exactly) " that she could take it" but what if he was wrong? What if they lost engine power and fell out of the sky and were trapped on the frozen tundra until they froze or starved to death? She shook those thoughts out of her mind. If they did crash, Robin would save them. He always did. He always had a plan.

Didn't he?

* * *

Robin sat in his pod across the wing from Raven. He too was worrying about the flight, but in somewhat a more utilitarian way. If the plane _did _crash, he might not have enough food or water or protection from the cold to save everyone.

If he didn't, he knew that he might have to lead his team as far as he could before he or anyone else died. Especially Raven. He couldn't imagine life without her.

He also knew that he might have to leave someone behind in order for the rest to survive. Even if it _was _Raven who was left. He wouldn't let that happen, though. He'd tell them to go on without _him_. Anything other than letting Raven (or another one of the team, he hastily reminded himself) die. He couldn't do that.

Could he?

* * *

Cyborg was calm and collected on the flight back. He'd built the jet and he knew its capabilities. It could make the flight back easily.

Doubt crept into his mind. _Couldn't it?_

* * *

Beast Boy wasn't thinking of anything; he was fast asleep in his comfortable left hand side pod.

* * *

Suddenly the plane entered a much bigger storm front than the others it had been through. Something bright blue hit the right engine (the one beside Raven, sending her jumping back away from the window) and it clunked dangerously before exploding and falling off to the right.

"Cyborg! What the hell just happened?" Robin was instantly in Leader Mode.

"Yeah... we lost an engine. That's bad. Very very bad." Cyborg analysed the readouts on his screen quickly; the plane was going down quite rapidly. "Get everyone over to the left side of the plane."

The plane jolted and started listing severely to the right as the remaining engine struggled to keep the jet in the air.

"Seriously, do it NOW!" Cyborg wrenched the flightstick to the left, straightening out the plane; however this allowed the nose to drop down and the T-jet sped up. Raven teleported herself over into Robin's pod. He moved off the chair and sat her down in it before strapping the safety belt over her thin waist and smashing the release with a Birdarang so it was now permanently locked.

"Robin... ROBIN!" Raven shouted at him. "What are you DOING?"

"Saving your life." he responded grimly, as the plane lurched further towards the ground.

"What about you?" she said terrified.

"Let me worry about that. Cyborg!" Robin spoke into the miraculously still-functional comlinks. "I see a town about three klicks to the north. Try and put the plane down there."

"We aren't going to make it that far, Rob!" Cyborg braced himself. "Get ready, we're about to hit..."

Raven looked sideways at the rapidly approaching white mass below them.

She looked up at Robin.

Time slowed down for her at this moment.

She felt the plane hit the ground and jolted forwards. The plane skid along the icy surface toward a huge chunk of glacial ice.

They hit the jagged white block hard, the jet crumpling up along the right hand side and pieces of ice fell off the glacier towards them. One hit the plexiglass canopy above Raven and Robin.

The canopy shattered.

Robin threw himself on top of her to shield her from the glass. Crimson splashed onto Raven's face from above and the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.

The last thing she saw was Robin taking a large shard of glass in the side of the head before she blacked out.

* * *

**A/N: Yay for new story! **

**Disclaimer: (I've been forgetting to do these, uh oh) I do not own the Teen Titans, or Russia (I'm not 100% sure on that one though.)**

**Review please. It makes me happy. **

**Many thanks to my faithful beta tester Dylan, who reads all my stories and happily hasn't gone mad yet. **

**Tom out.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Death in the Snow

"**Wake Up, Robin" - Chapter II: Death in the Snow**

They both saw the aircraft crash and flew towards the site.

The girl got there first. She landed, melting some snow beneath her and hitting the ground hard before running towards the smoking wreck.

The other person landed with much more finesse, gently touching down, rolling and catching up with his comrade.

They surveyed the destroyed jet.

"Nothing could have lived through that, Forge. We were too late." The girl said in sad resignation.

"No." the man called Forge said. "We look anyway, Titanium. We cannot risk losing any more lives to that infernal machine." He spotted a yellow colour in the corner of his well trained eye, in one of the side pods of this strange vehicle. "There."

They walked over to the orange pod.

A teenage boy and a girl were inside, broken glass scattered around them. Both wore white camouflage uniforms. The girl wore a hooded fur cloak and some jewels were set about her belt. The boy wore boots with a steel coating over the toes and a yellow "R" was emblazoned on his chest. He wore a domino mask to hide his eyes, though Forge couldn't think why he would do that. Blood was slowly seeping down his forehead from a terrible gash in his head. They were wrapped tightly around each other.

"Glass." Forge said. "I vill get these two and I think I saw someone in ze central area who vos unharmed. You get zem, and I'll tend to ze vounded."

Titanium nodded and jogged off towards the indicated area.

Forge bent down and held his hand over the injured boy's head. Too cold. The girl was just warm enough to be considered stable, but the boy could die if not treated quickly.

He picked up the boy and pried his hands from around the girl; they tightened on thin air. Next he clawed the girl's hands free of the boy, they fell down at her sides.

Forge placed the boy's limp body on the snow; draped the boy's cape over him as a blanket and used a small pile of snow to prop his head up.

The girl was locked into a safety belt that had been smashed to prevent it coming loose. _Clever. _ His eyes glowed with an electric blue and lines of the same colour trickled down and around his arms, moving only in straight lines, like wires. A small red buzzsaw with a glowing blue energy blade built itself around his hand.

After cutting the girl out of the wreckage and checking that she was stable, he lifted the two casualties up and over his shoulders, signalling to Titanium (who had the other two occupants of the aircraft – a man seemingly encased in metal and a strange green boy – held in her hands.

Forge's eyes glowed again, an elaborate pattern of electric blue lines slowly ran over his body and a pair of fairly long red wings with rocket thrusters mounted in nacelles at the end of the wings built themselves on his back.

He signalled again, gunning the thrusters and lifting off. Titanium joined him and they flew quickly towards a château-like building on a mountain barely visible through the storm.

* * *

Raven woke up with a start.

"Robin!" she gasped.

She sat up in the soft bed (_when did she get in that?_) and opened her eyes.

She was in what appeared to be an old mediaeval castle. _What?_

The windows were bullet-shaped and many depicted images from the Bible.

Hospital beds lined the walls.

She was in a hospital bed.

Her gaze slid to the right.

Robin was next to her. His eyes were closed. Bandages were wrapped around many parts of his body, and a larger one was tied off around his head. _Oh no._ _Why was that? _

She started to remember.

The Russian mission. The blue light. The explosion.

The plane crash.

The glacier. _Hitting the glacier. _

The glass canopy shattering...

...and a huge shard of glass going straight into the side of Robin's head as he protected her from the flying debris.

Raven got up and rushed over to Robin. She stretched her arm out towards his head and a voice interrupted her.

"I see you are avake. And I vould not touch him just now."

She turned around like a whirlwind.

The person stood there looked about 25.

He was wearing a long trench coat with the symbol of a red cross mounted on a cog emblazoned on the shoulders; he wore this over an armoured suit made of some dull, red metal.

He also wore black boots done up with five silver buckles and black gloves that covered his forearms. His belt was possibly more complicated than Robin's, with the same symbol on the buckle as his coat.

He had red hair that stuck up behind a pair of bug-eyed goggles worn on the top of his head.

A black cloth face mask hung down around his neck.

His eyes were interesting; his left eye was a dark blue and his right eye was a yellowy green.

Raven suddenly noticed that he was covered in snow.

"Um...Who...who are you?" Raven stuttered at the apparition.

"I am Forge." He had an accent that couldn't really be classified. It was slightly English, with a portion of Russian and some Austrian. There was another tone to his voice, a very large amount of it, but she couldn't place it. "This is my home."

Raven didn't understand. "You live in a...hospital?"

He laughed. "Not exactly. This is merely where ve are keeping ze hospital."

"Are you up to taking a short walk?" Forge asked her. "Ze rest of your comrades are already awake. Apart from zis one, of course." He gestured to Robin.

"Is he...is he alright?" Raven said nervously.

"Sadly not. He sustained severe damage to his head after large shard of glass embedded itself – quite deeply – in ze right side of his head, along vis suffering multiple other small – vell, to be more precise, minor – wounds."

Raven looked down regretfully.

"Injuries it appears he received in defence of you. A brave man."

Raven nodded.

"However, I vos able to remove ze glass and stabilise his condition for the time in being. He vill not wake for few days. At least I am hoping so. There never is guarantee with comas resulting from head injuries. In meantimes, however, you are perfectly able to come und visit him, as I do not believe that any of you are in condition to travel, or indeed have any means of transportation."

Forge spoke quite quickly, and some of his pronunciation and grammar was a little off. He also missed out certain words that either he didn't think were necessary or just spoke too fast and missed them; Raven wasn't sure.

"But now, come with me to living area. Your friends are eager to ascertain that you are undamaged. And I think that Titanium will vont meet you also."

Raven sighed and allowed herself to be led out of the ward by Forge.

"I can see zat you care greatly for him."

Raven jumped. _Was it _really _that obvious? _

Forge looked at her kindly. "Do not be doing ze fretting. I shall not allow him to die when he has such people to return to."

Raven swallowed tears and looked up gratefully at the medic.

"Please."

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. I only own the characters Forge and Titanium. **

**A/N: I think I wrote about 4 of these chapters in one day...damn...**

**Forge and Titanium are both characters of my own invention. I might draw them myself or get one of my friends to draw them for me. If I do, they'll be on deviantart somewhere...maybe**

**Reviews please; this is going to be a fairly long story and I'd like to know whether it is good enough.**

**Tom **


	3. Chapter 3 - The Monastery on the Hill

"**Wake Up, Robin" - Part III: The Monastery on the Hill**

Forge led Raven down myriad corridors and swirling staircases towards what he dubbed "Living area."

She looked in fascination at the paintings and other assorted items that she would have thought were more at home in a church than a castle.

Forge caught her looking and began to explain.

"Zis castle was not always so." he said. "It was originally monastery until zhe priests left during one of Soviets' invasions in 1945." His look darkened.

"The Red Army," he spat, "burned zhe town to ashes and used zhe townsfolk in the valley below to build a _veapon – _a Tesla generator. They could not climb the mountain to zhis monastery and so it was left abandoned; until myself and Titanium came here and started our hospice, to help zhe travellers who fell afoul of zhat dammed machine."

Raven was shocked. "Tesla generator?" she said. "I remember seeing a flash of blue light from the ground before the engine exploded."

"_Igen__, _that would have been it." Forge said. "It was originally used to lock onto Nazi aircraft and shoot zem down. From time to time the infernal device short-circuits und fries an aircraft passing overhead. Normally, it would do no damage, as ze planes are too large to be affected by Tesla energy, but smaller aircraft can crash. Und...zat is what happened to you. And your...ah, your comrades..."

"What do you mean by 'comrades', Forge?" Raven asked curiously.

Forge bit his lip. "It is...ahm...qvite easy to see why you are worried about the Robin." he said slowly, watching Raven's face. "I am sure zat he vould – indeed, _does_ – feel the same as you, if he was in your position."

"Of course he would, he's the leader." she said densely. "He worries about everyone."

Forge laughed. "You do not see it, do you? Ah vell, I shall not push it. I vill remain silent – zzzp!" He made a gesture of doing up a zip over his mouth.

Raven was confused. _What is he talking about?_

At length they reached a large door with carvings of fire-breathing dragons twirling around each other and intertwined with some kind of plants.

Forge scratched the back of his head ashamedly. "My vork...probably not acceptable to the original owners of the place." He chuckled and gestured for Raven to go through first.

Pushing open the door, Raven stepped into a large feasting-hall-come-living room. Assorted items of furniture were scattered about the room – a table, some pews, a small stool and some black leather ejector seats from old warplanes. A radio from a 1940s German bomber sat on a coffee table, reading out the weather and (Raven assumed) any maydays from planes in trouble. Most of the things in the room had evidently been either salvaged from crashed aircraft or built from scratch (or stolen, she thought cynically).

Cyborg and Beast Boy were already there, sat in flight seats, chatting happily. Beast Boy's uniform was torn and a bandage was tied around his head, Cyborg had some loose wires sticking out of him shooting sparks everywhere, and both had the vestiges of dried blood on them; but they looked happy nonetheless and they both waved to Raven as she made her way over.

Forge followed her into the room.

"Raven!" Cyborg exclaimed. "How are you feeling? Met our crazy host yet? How's Robin?"

Raven smiled. "I'm feeling okay. Yes, I met Forge." She looked down and the smile slid off her face. "Robin...Robin is...he's not waking up."

Cyborg and Beast Boy immediately looked worried.

"Nothing can stop Robin. Nothing." Beast Boy said in a vain attempt to raise his friend's spirits. "He'll wake up. I know he will."

"At least von of us has some confidence in my boyfriend's medical abilities." a girl's voice rang out from the doorway. It was very Russian and was spoken through something that made her voice very mechanical-sounding.

Raven squinted at the shadow.

A pair of silvery white boots with heels stepped out into the candlelight.

"Viktor, Rav-en, Garfield," Forge said, "meet Titanium."

Titanium walked out fully into the light. Her boots clanged on the stone floor.

Raven ran her eyes up and down the metal apparition.

She was clad in a very high-tech, entirely silver-white armour, shaped to fit her curved figure.

The main torso piece of the armour had a short metal skirt that covered about half her legs. Some metal greaves, made in segments, extended down from the body and met the boots at the knee. Gauntlets with small curved elbow pads protected her hands. A visored helmet with a V-shaped crest was mounted on her head, and flared metal triangles stuck out on her shoulders.

Forge walked over to her and whispered in her ear.

"Fine..." she said.

The plate of metal covering her mouth retracted, followed by the visor then the cheek pieces of the helmet. She lifted off the now tiara shaped helmet and put it on the table, shaking her long blonde hair free of the ponytail it was tied up in.

Raven gasped. This girl was beautiful.

Forge smiled appreciatively. "Much better." His counterpart shot him a glare before turning to the Titans.

"It occurs to me zhat we know very little about you, other zan your names." Titanium said. "Your aircraft was hardly ordinary. Neither are your clothes; I can see zhat you are superheroes. Who are you?"

A reply was not forthcoming. Robin's constant training and paranoid nature had drummed the "don't-tell-people-anything-about-you" lesson into them.

"How about zis?" she said. "You tell us who you are and vhat you were doing, and we tell you who we are."

Raven held up a hand, signalling that they needed some time to discuss the matter.

The Titans turned away, huddling together to keep the conversation private.

"Well?" Cyborg said. "Do we tell them?"

"Yeah, sure. They _did _save us from certain death in a plane crash. If they wanted us dead they could have just left us there to freeze." Beast Boy reasoned.

"I...I don't know..." Raven said. "I think we can trust them, but I don't know."

She sighed.

"Robin would know what to do. He always knows what to do..."

"Well then we wait for Robin to wake up, and _then _we tell them. If he says so."

Cyborg said finally. Beast Boy nodded.

"But...what if he _doesn't _wake up?" Raven said in barely a whisper. "What if we lose him?"

"Raven." Cyborg said, grasping her by the shoulders. "He _will _wake up. He will. Okay?"

Raven nodded, blinking away tears before either of the boys could see them.

"It's decided then. We wait for Robin."

They related this information to Forge and Titanium. They shrugged and nodded.

"Well, we vere going to tell you who ve are anyway. You see, ve need some more supplies and the suit isn't exactly welcome down in zhe town, so I need to travel on zhe old roads and town is two miles from here..." Titanium began.

"And some of you will need to go too, so that you can assist her vis the supplies." Forge added. "I vould go myself, but I cannot leave the Robin alone. I made a promise to Rav-en zat I would not allow her _szeretett_ to die."

Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg all looked mystified. _Szeretett?_

Titanium gave a short laugh. "No Hungarian in front of the guests, Styrka, you vill confuse them!"

"Ah, but I did not vant the others to know vat it was I said, Ilana." Forge grinned. "Should ve not introduce ourselves? Ve appear to have stunned our guests."

Cyborg and Beast Boy looked on open-mouthed. Raven was still puzzling about what 'zeretete' had meant. _Leader? Friend? The stereotypically Russian "comrade?" What did it mean? _

"_Da. _I am Ilana. Ilana Petrovic. Zis is Styrka Ivanov, my boyfriend of six years!" Ilana (Titanium) said, amused by the awestruck expressions on her guests' faces.

Styrka laughed. "It has been rough ride, I can tell you. But now, friends, it is time to eat. Let us discuss this further over a hot meal."

After dinner, Raven went back up to the hospital to see Robin. Styrka was already up there, bending over her leader and taking readings from a scanner that seemed to be in place of his hand.

She coughed and he turned around.

"Rav-en." he said, the scanner folding itself into his hand. "Vat is it?"

"What did you mean earlier, when you said that word...zeretete, was it?" she asked timidly.

"_Szeretett." _he corrected. "Vell, you heard Ilana earlier: it vos Hungarian, zhe language of my homeland." He walked over to a secretarial desk near the window with the name-plate "Ilana Petrovic: Nurse" on it (obviously used when they received visitors who _weren't _superheroes), pulled out a drawer and threw a blue-bound book to her from inside.

She caught it with her powers and it floated into her hands.

"Impressive, _boszorkány." _he said respectfully. "Zat is Ilana's old Hungarian dictionary, so that she vos able to understand me when I lapsed into my mother tongue. Take it; she no longer needs it after living vis me for so long."

Raven turned to B. '_Boszorkány,' _she read, '_sorceress.' _

Forge quietly left the room. Raven didn't notice.

She turned to S.

_Szeretett, _it said.

Her eyes widened and she dropped the dictionary on her lap.

Forge was right about Robin. The tall man had seen everything that she had tried to hide.

Szeretett.

_Beloved._

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. I also do not own the Hungarian language, coincidentally. I _do _however own Forge and Titanium. **

**A/N: It is _so _hard to write in a Russian accent. (Russians, don't be offended, your accents are still awesome.)**

**Yes, I did learn three or four words in Hungarian just to write this. **

**Forge's name, Styrka, is actually Swedish. Oops. **

**Keep up the reviews, they're all much appreciated (because they show me I don't suck at writing). **

**Tom**


	4. Chapter 4 - Second Opinion

"**Wake Up, Robin" - Chapter 4: Second Opinion**

Raven sat in the infirmary, lost in thought.

She was only slightly disturbed when Ilana opened the door and walked over to her desk. She noticed Raven holding the dictionary and realised what had happened.

She walked over and put her arm around the slim girl's shoulders.

"Vhat is wrong?" She said concernedly.

Raven sighed, before picking a random question, asking "Ilana, how did you and Forge meet?"

"He saved me." the tall woman said. "Before I ran the hospice, I vorked as a nurse in Leningrad. I vos travelling in zhe tundra, woefully unprepared, and I vos attacked by some of the wolves in zhis area. Styrka came to save me, seeing my distress."

She sat down on a bed across from Raven. "He was terribly injured, but he drove back the wolves and took me to this monastery where I nursed him back to health. Vile he healed, I explored zhe monastery, discovering his secret laboratory vhere he vorked on scientific project: zhe nanobots. I told him of my discovery, and he opened zhe book to me; he was vorking to revolutionise medical science and cure millions of diseases without vaccines or drugs. I stayed vith him after he recovered and helped him complete his dream."

Ilana's face darkened. "But vun night, vhile ve vorked, zhe reactor overloaded. Styrka locked his Titanium armour over me to protect me from the blast."

"In zhe explosion, millions of nanobots were forced into Styrka's body, somehow leaving him alive, but very weak. We dug our way out of the rubble and sealed the laboratory off, vowing that such a device should never fall into the hands of anyone who would use it for killing."

Raven listened spellbound.

"In the weeks afterwards, ve discovered zhat the explosion had affected us in terrible ways. The armour had bonded itself into my spinal cord due to the extreme heat, and it became intertwined with my nervous system, making removal impossible. However, at least I vos still human in essence; I could control the armour merely by thinking, allowing me to retract it into my spinal cord, making me appear entirely normal."

Raven asked quietly "What about Styrka?"

Ilana closed her eyes. "He did not vake for almost a month... I vos beside myself vith grief; as during our time together I had come to adore him and, although I did not know it, he I."

"I know what that's like." Raven said.

Ilana laughed. "I know you do, Raven. Do you zhink I do not see you looking over at the poor boy every four seconds?"

Raven blushed. _Damn, it IS that obvious. _

"Anyvay, one day Styrka was covered in a strange energy; it seeped over him like vires in a computer – I vos terrified. Suddenly he began building...machines...all over his body. Zhen, just as suddenly, it stopped and he broke out of his comatose state."

"He had changed completely. On the outside, he looked just as he did vhen he was still a man, but on inside, he vos terrible fusion of flesh and metal. He learned he could build his machines vith a thought; so he took the new name "Forge." I, melded vith the Titanium armour as I am, became "Titanium." Ve began our hospice, and our relationship, and lived on as heroes in this forgotten land. Zhat was five years ago; and I am still afraid for him when he goes to rescue the fallen from the storms."

Raven sat quietly. "Thank you for sharing, Ilana..." she said finally, before adding "Did Styrka ever tell you what being in a coma was like?"

Ilana shivered. "_Da. _He said...he said it was being trapped in a nightmare where he could hear some of zhe things I said to him, but he could not say anything back. He also spoke of dreams when he slept, in which he lost all that he cared for, and this veakened his resolve to vake up. After all, he said, vhy vake up if there was no one left to vake up to?"

Raven thought deeply about this. _That could be it. Maybe, _she thought, _maybe I could go into Robin's head (again) and get him out like that? Unless it could make him worse. I don't think I could take that._

"You should get some rest, Raven. You vill need your sleep, being trapped vith Styrka all day tomorrow!" Ilana joked on her way out of the room.

Raven sat down in the chair at Robin's bedside and fell asleep, dreaming of being lost in a storm with no-one to guide her out.

* * *

Raven woke up to Forge already awake, fiddling with various bits of machinery that had sprung up around Robin. Multiple wires ran to Robin's temples and wrists.

"Ah, Rav-en. You avaken." he said through a pencil held between his teeth. He took some notes in a dark blue notebook.

Raven yawned and asked the Hungarian crossly what the _hell_ he thought he was doing with Robin.

"I am attempting to monitor the Robin's brainwaves." he said as if that was self-explanatory. "This may help me to find out what is keeping him asleep."

He looked sideways at Raven. "Did you work out what he is to you, yet?"

Raven threw a deadly look at him. He laughed.

"You remind me of Ilana." he said fondly.

"Styrka?" Raven asked suddenly. "How did you find us?"

"You vere in side cockpit of aircraft." he said absently. "You vere locked to seat and ze lock destroyed to prevent you being released by an accident. Ze locking equipment was damaged by sharp object, not unlike these interesting tools I found on the Robin's belt."

Forge built a passable reproduction of a Birdarang and twirled it around in his hand before disassembling it and absorbing the metal back into his body.

He suddenly remembered something. "Ah yes! You vere a fascinating example of ze 'lover's grip.'"

"What?!" Raven spluttered.

"Is fairly common reflex reaction to extreme danger. Person unconsciously grips tightly person or thing most precious to them. Is not common that two grip each other, though. Um, like you were."

He saw her expression and laughed. "I am being serious! I had to pry you apart in order to get you out of wreckage."

"He must love you much to put himself in as large an amount of danger as he did." Styrka said as if he was discussing the weather. "Raven, it is a miracle that _you_ even survived. Vithout Robin's protection, most of ze glass would be irreparably lodged inside your frontal cortex. And you would be in cold grave outside."

Right then Robin forced from his cracked lips the single word "Raven..."

"His brain activity just spiked by about 70 per cent." Forge read off one of the screens in front of him. "Fascinating."

Suddenly Raven remembered something from the night before.

"..._it was being trapped in a nightmare where he could hear some of zhe __things I said to him, but he could not say anything back. He also spoke of dreams when he slept, in which he lost all that he cared for, and this veakened his resolve to wake up. __After all, vhy vake up if there vos no one left to vake up to?__" _Titanium's words reverberated through her head.

"Styrka..." Raven said hesitantly, "What if I were to go _into _Robin's head, and give him a _reason _to wake up?"

Forge looked at her incredulously. "You can _do _zat?"

Raven nodded.

"Can you get out again safely?" he questioned.

Raven nodded again.

"Well, it could not _hurt _him, seeing as if it does not vork you can just pull back out of his brain..."

That was all the conformation Raven needed. She gathered herself and levitated above the bed, crossed legs, eyes closed, whispering her mantra over and over.

Forge looked on in a mix of horror and astonishment as a jet black version of Raven dropped out of her static body and into Robin.

Raven hit the ground hard. She looked up and snow whipped into her face.

She realised where she was. Where _Robin _was.

He was still in the snowstorm.

The storm that had raged on the night that they had crashed.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, blah blah blah. I _do _own Forge and Titanium. I do not own the Russian city of Leningrad. Probably.**

**A/N: Getting close to the end now. (However, you can relax, people who don't want this to end (that's actually kind of weird - it's like you don't want Robin to wake up, shock horror), I still have like 2000 words and two chapters to get through, so chill) **

**Still no word on a drawing of Forge & Titanium. **

**Keep reviewing, lovely people. It really does help a lot. **

**I promise I won't kill Robin, OK?**

**Tom**


	5. Chapter 5 - Alone in the Storm

"**Wake Up, Robin" - Chapter 5: Alone In The Storm **

Raven looked around in the storm-blasted wasteland. _Where are you, Robin?_

"Robin!" she called. No answer.

She took a few steps forwards and whacked her head off the glacier right in front of her.

_Dammit, I can't even see two feet in front of me! _she thought angrily. _How am I going to find Robin and get him out if I can't even walk? _

Suddenly she heard a faint sound from off to her right.

She turned towards the sound and felt her way along the beat at her from all sides, making her stagger and fall on her knees.

She stood up again, forcing herself to move.

A piece of bright orange metal tripped her, making her fall again.

She crawled on, one hand on the glacier, the other in front of her face in a futile attempt to ward of the relentless snow. She tried to stand up, but failed.

She tried again. This time, strong hands helped her to her feet. _Robin?_

It wasn't Robin. Or it was, in a way. He was the Red X suit. Like a ghost, he flicked in and out of existence as he pointed to a speck in the distance.

"_Help him, Raven... Save him, Raven... Raven...Ravennnn..." _the ghost breathed before disappearing before her eyes.

She put a hand up to her head and looked at her reflection in the glacier. Her eyes were losing their colour. _Something's missing. Something about me isn't right._

Raven pushed deeper into the storm.

* * *

Forge slouched on the chair beside Robin's inert body, almost asleep.

Raven's body hovered just above Robin, her eyes closed and in a meditative pose.

It had been hours since Raven had gone into Robin's mind.

A knock on the door jolted Forge from his cat-nap. "Come in."

Titanium, in her civilian outfit, followed by Beast Boy and Cyborg (wearing holographic image inducers to hide their distinguishing features).

"Styrka, ve got all zhe supplies. Vhat has happened – and vhy is Raven floating?" Titanium said.

Cyborg and Beast Boy recognised the set-up immediately.

"She's gone into Robin's mind." Cyborg said. "Again."

"_Vhat?" _Titanium rounded on them. "How is zhis possible?"

"Ilana, calm yourself." Forge spoke up. "She told me she could pull herself out of the Robin's brain if need be. Everything is being fine."

"She _can _pull herself out_, _but that doesn't mean she _will_." Beast Boy interjected. "She won't get out of Robin's head unless he's coming with her."

Cyborg nodded. "She's _really _stubborn, and she's most stubborn when dealing with Robin."

Forge shared a small laugh with Titanium.

"I don't get the joke..." Beast Boy said, confused.

"No, you don't." Forge replied, confusing him further.

"Anyway," Cyborg said, "all we can do now is wait."

The others nodded. Forge sank back down into his chair and Titanium perched herself on her desk.

Cyborg and Beast Boy sat on beds on either side of Robin.

They waited.

* * *

Raven stumbled and staggered along, snow whipping at her face and the wind fighting her every step of the way. It felt like she'd been here for days.

She was getting weaker and weaker . It took all her remaining strength just to keep walking.

"Robin!" she called weakly. "Where are you, Robin?"

She heard a laugh echoing off the glacier wall. She turned this way and that, wildly searching for the source.

"Lost, pretty bird?" it taunted her. It sounded like at least three people were talking at once.

"Show yourself!" she shouted to the sky.

"Ask, and you shall receive." The sound took on form and swirled down through the tempest to build itself into a shadowy figure. A green question mark glowed on its chest.

"You're a bit late, birdy." it sneered. "Here's a riddle you can't solve, I _BET_; to find Robin now, you'll have to _JET!_"

Raven threw a wild punch at it, and it turned into a black fog, before reforming. This time an insane yellow grin was stretched over its face.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" it laughed at her. "Robin and Raven, sitting in a tree. PRICELESS! AHAHAHAHAHA!"

She threw another desperate punch at it, and the same thing as before happened. This time, a pair of red eyes glowed on the apparition's "face," under a snowglobe helmet.

"Do hurry, my dear. To find him too late would be cold comfort, I'm afraid."

Punch_._

An extravagant hat was seated on its head. A ragged trench coat adorned its shoulders.

"Robin's lost his Alice, Robin's lost his Alice! You mustn't be late, you mustn't be late!"

Punch.

Bug-eyed mask. Insect-like wings.

"Robin's burnin' up, sweets. Haven't you been keepin' up with the buzz?"

Punch.

Noose around the neck. Orange pits of death for eyes.

"Are you _scared _of us_, _little Raven?"

Punch. Punch. Punch. "SHUT UP!" Raven screamed at it, terrified.

"_Hahahahahahahahahahahaha..." _it – _they – _laughed; sneeringly, maniacally, coldly, gloatingly, smugly, cruelly; all of _them_ laughed.

"I've had ENOUGH!" Raven raised her hands, summoned her last, feeble spark of strength and threw the shadow into the glacier, pinning it to the wall.

Her eyes burned with fury and she formed a razor-sharp blade from her magic and stabbed it into its chest.

It gave a horrible keening and dissipated into the air.

She breathed a sigh of relief. _ What was __that? __**Who**__ was that?_

_Wait, _she thought. _The green one said I had to "jet." It was a riddle! The jet! That's where Robin is!"_

Raven forced her tired body to run towards the small blaze of orange in the distance

* * *

Raven came, at last, to the end of the glacier. She rubbed snow out of her eyes, catching a glimpse of the burning T-Jet_. _She started sprinting towards it; falling a few times, but eventually reaching the destroyed wreckage of their plane.

Raven stopped dead when she saw Robin.

He was on his knees. He was_ crying. _

In front of him lay a figure, cloaked in blue, a pool of blood around her.

"Raven..." Robin wept. "I can't... I can't go on anymore. Not without you. I should have told you. _I love you._"

Raven gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.

She took forced steps towards Robin.

She stopped just behind him and reached her hand out to rest on his shoulder.

Robin turned around. Shock filled his features. "Raven...?"

"I'm here, Robin. I'm safe." she reassured him.

"But..." Raven stopped him there by putting a finger on his lips.

"We have to fix her." he said. "Fix _you._"

Raven replied by grasping his hand and holding it out towards the dead Raven in front of them, pulling him to his feet with her other hand.

Robin's hand started glowing with a bright golden light.

The dead Raven started glowing too.

Wounds healed themselves all over her shattered body. Blood poured back into her veins. Glass pulled itself out of her and fell to the ground around them. Bones reformed, pulling her back into shape.

Her amethyst eyes slowly opened.

She stood up.

Robin stepped backwards, eyes wide.

Raven simply walked over and looked questioningly at the other Raven.

She looked back with complete understanding in her eyes.

They touched hands and the two Ravens glowed white and they melded into a single body.

"Raven?" Robin said fearfully. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Robin." Raven smiled at him and he relaxed somewhat. "Let's go home."

A huge raven appeared over the horizon, twisting and twirling into a white doorway embossed with an R.

They set off through the storm, Raven leaning on Robin; drained from healing 'herself' and from trekking through the blizzard.

Robin's mind spun frantically as he supported her. _Hadn't he just seen her die in front of him? How was she alive at all? _

He pushed such thoughts from his mind. _She was here, and that was all that mattered._

Reaching the door, Raven stumbled and fell. Robin caught her and she gratefully wrapped her arms around his neck to take some of the weight off his arms.

The door opened for them.

Robin braced himself and stepped through.

* * *

At this point, a lot of things happened at once.

Robin's eyes snapped open and he sat up.

Raven fell out of her meditative state, down towards the bed.

Forge jumped up, knocking the chair over and Titanium leapt off the desk.

Robin caught Raven as she fell.

Robin realised he was too weak to catch Raven at this particular moment.

Robin dropped Raven and she fell on him, knocking him back down onto the bed.

Everyone went very quiet.

Raven's amethyst eyes stared into Robin's masked ones. No-one broke the silence.

"Raven," Robin finally groaned, "if it isn't too much trouble, could you possibly...ach...could you possibly get off of me?"

Raven realised she was straddling Robin and went very red.

She climbed off him gingerly, trying not to hurt Robin more than she already had.

Forge and Titanium were killing themselves laughing.

Raven picked up and sat down in Forge's forgotten chair. She rolled her eyes.

Forge stopped laughing with difficulty and turned to Robin.

"Velcome back to ze land of ze living, the Robin!" he said genially.

"Who're you and what am I doing here?" Robin croaked. "The last thing I remember is hitting the glacier when we... when we crashed."

"That's Forge, the other one's Titanium, and you're in their hospice." Raven blurted. "You got hit in the head by some glass. It was bad. You were in a coma. I went into your mind to wake you up."

"I... I remember." Robin coloured very slightly.

Forge regained control of the conversation.

"You should be dead, speaking medically." he rattled off. "You sustained multiple minor cuts, gashes and uzzer glass related injuries, and about three very large vons, the major of vhich vos in your head."

He looked at both Raven and Robin. "I advise you that next time you feel ze need to perform any other stupidly brave actions in defence of zis lovely young woman, you should at least allow her to know before you do zem." he said, grinning widely.

Titanium said loudly from the door. "I sink zhat I should _leave zhe room _and _sort zhe supplies. _Viktor, Styrka, Garfield, you v_ill assist me."_

They nodded and trooped out, Forge shutting the door behind him with a wink.

"So...Robin," Raven said shyly, "what you said while we were in your mind..."

"Yes, Raven?" Robin raised an eyebrow.

"You...you said you loved me." Raven blushed as she said it. _You sound like a lovesick schoolgirl. _

It was Robin's turn to blush. "Um, yeah. I did. I do. And...?"

Raven couldn't get the words out. "I wanted to say...well, what I was going to say was...ah...um..."

A loud "Oh, for zhe love of..." was heard outside the door.

Titanium exploded into the room and stormed over to the hapless pair.

She grabbed Raven by the back of the head and pushed her face forward into Robin's, _forcing _them to kiss each other.

The tall Russian relented. "Much better." she said with satisfaction, before waving cheerily and striding off.

Raven and Robin looked at each other awkwardly.

"Do you want to ignore that or...?" Robin started.

Raven didn't give him a chance to finish, bending down and kissing him hard.

"I never want you to leave me again." she said. "I love you, Robin."

She lay down beside him; wrapping her arms around him tightly.

Raven rested her head on Robin's strong shoulder and started gently stroking his hair, before dosing off, completely spent from navigating Robin's mind.

Forge and Titanium poked their heads around the door.

Seeing the scene before them, they smiled and came fully into the infirmary.

Robin gave them a thumbs-up sign.

He was awake, at last, and he lay with his _szeretett, _who slept peacefully, dreaming of blue skies and cool breezes and soft grass beneath her feet.

And no shadows haunted her.

* * *

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans - not mine. Forge & Titanium - yes mine. Hungary - not mine. Et cetera.**

**A/N: Second last chapter! IT'S SO EMOTIONAL! **

**Forge and Titanium WILL return. Promise. Drawing of Forge is finished. :D Titanium is in the works.**

**Raven's so OOC it's frightening (I think). Tell me what you think of the story so far (esp. the Raven-heals-Raven part of this chapter) in the reviews.**

**BIG UPDATE: Added more 'flesh' (for you, Xaphrin) to the part in Robin's mind. Can you work out which people are in the "black shadow" Raven deals with here?**

**If you want to use Forge and Titanium for anything, PM me and I'll think about it. **

**Epilogue next! (Probably. (Whenever I don't have to do English essays anymore.)) Stay tuned.**

**Tom**


	6. Epilogue - From Russia With Love

"**Wake Up, Robin" - Epilogue: From Russia With Love**

It was 5 in the morning.

The tower doorbell rang. Raven padded down the stairs towards the front door and opened it with bleary eyes.

She was greeted by a small metal box, with a Red Cross on a cog symbol on it. She looked about for a deliverer, but found no-one.

The box was brought into the tower and sat on the kitchen counter. Raven made her morning cup of tea, picked up the box and sat down on the oversized sofa, examining it. The symbol looked familiar, but she couldn't place it exactly.

Robin wandered into the room and noticed Raven looking at the box.

"What's that, Rae?" he asked her.

"I don't know, I haven't opened it yet." she retorted and opened the lid. Robin caught a glimpse of the symbol and, recognising it, said "It's from the hospice."

Inside were three photographs.

One was a picture of Robin and Raven sleeping together in the hospital bed, the night Robin had come out of his coma.

Another, a picture of a tall, red haired man in a trench coat with his arm around a steel woman, standing in front of a church.

A third picture displayed the Titans, Forge and Titanium standing in a row, Robin and Raven intertwined.

A small card was signed "Styrka and Ilana."

Raven delved deeper into the box. The bottom came away in her hand to reveal a Birdarang trapped in one of her jewels, lost on the night of the crash.

Something was etched on the back of the metal plate.

_Styrka found these out on the tundra and remembered you. He said if we removed the blade the jewel would break – much like you and the Robin._

_Sometimes he is just a hopeless romantic._

_Yours ever, Ilana Ivanov _

Robin sat down beside Raven and put his long arm about her shoulder. She looked at the long scar down the side of his handsome face and the memories came flooding back.

"So..." he started. "Do you think that Forge gets bored of being right all the time?"

Raven smiled.

"No." she said and kissed her _szeretett _lightly. "I don't think he does."

* * *

**Disclaimer: ...I think you've got the picture by now...**

**A/N: Oh my god it's finally finished.**

**Review my failure to end a story.**

**This chapter was written while listening solely to Auld Lang Syne by the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, which may explain its awfulness. **

**You like! TOM HAPPY! :D (You're all crazy, but hey, praise is praise.)**

**THE DRAWINGS OF FORGE AND TITANIUM ARE HERE: www . dropbox . com **

** sh / rv4gbq2d9r81zuc / KyobvHm7c8**

**Tom (no longer panicking about failing at life) **


	7. Bonus Chapter - Fire and Darkness

"**Fire and Darkness" - Bonus Chapter for Wake Up, Robin**

The monastery stood at the top of a gentle hill.

Snow battered at it, driven by the howling wind, but the grand old building stood strong against the onslaught.

A tall figure, a dark cloak around his neck – that the wind blew off his body, rendering it useless – battled his way through the storm to a small outbuilding at the back of the abbey.

Upon reaching it, he stumbled and fell on a chunk of jagged rock, cutting his forearm.

He groped blindly for the door handle and, finding it, pulled himself up and forced the old wooden door open.

Inside the wooden shack there was a large generator, silent and unmoving. The man kicked at the peeling hammer-and-sickle emblem on the side.

"Useless Soviet machinery." he commented to no-one in particular.

Bending down, he refilled the petrol tank, fiddled with numerous wires and such, swore at the machine a few times and pulled the ripcord roughly.

The ancient generator coughed and scraped into life. The man stood, smiled with satisfaction, heaved the door back open, and fought his way back to the main building.

Once inside, the man brushed snow out of his short brown hair.

He was fairly tall, and was thin but obviously well built. His old Russian military boots clunked on the stone cobbles. Taking off the cloak, he threw it nonchalantly on a hat stand in the corner of the room and scratched at his uneven stubble.

He looked at his left arm. Small red rivulets leaked down and dripped onto the floor.

Pushing the ornate oak door to what had once been a feasting hall, he heard the distinctive clack-clack noises of someone typing into an old-fashioned typewriter.

He smiled, hid his arm behind his back, and clunked over.

"You are getting snow all over my clean floor, Styrka." the blonde girl said, without looking up from the typewriter. She finished the log or report or whatever-it-was that she was typing and turned her sapphire blue eyes on Styrka.

He stopped dead.

He stared fearfully at the candle beside her, the flame flickering and dancing in his tortured green eyes.

"Oh!" the girl exclaimed. "I am sorry. I didn't think..." she tailed off, before licking her fingertips and pinching the flame out.

Styrka shook his head to clear it of the images of fiery death that blazed through it. "It's nothing, Ilana. I'm alright."

She looked at him sceptically but didn't argue.

Ilana noticed he was hiding his arm and gave him an interrogative look. Styrka held his arm out with a sigh.

The young woman gasped. "You're hurt!"

Styrka laughed. "I slipped on one of the stones that fell off the east wall. It is _literally _a scratch. Stop worrying."

Ilana raised her eyebrows then suddenly reached out to touch his arm.

He flinched instinctively and she smiled.

Ilana gracefully swept up a satchel (proudly emblazoned with the Red Cross) from her desk. Opening the satchel's polished metal clasp, she instructed Styrka to hold his arm out.

He watched as her long fingers delicately cleaned and bandaged the long gash on his forearm. _Such elegance. _

She finished her work and tied the bandage off. "There. Much better."

There were benefits to living with a nurse_, _he thought.

Suddenly, a great thunder crashed around them and the lights flashed off. Ilana gave a small shriek of terror and leapt closer to Styrka.

"Do not be afraid." he said quietly to her. "You are with me."

Minutes passed before the lights revived themselves.

A white-faced Ilana awkwardly disentangled her arms that she had instinctively clasped around Styrka when she jumped into him.

"Sorry." Styrka apologised unnecessarily in the silence that enveloped the room in the aftermath of the powercut. "I'll be in my workshop if you need me."

"Yes. Yes, of course." Ilana blushed and struggled for words.

* * *

Styrka sat alone in his workshop, thinking.

Bits and pieces of various machines littered the room; some on shelves; some on workbenches; many more just lying around.

This was where he was safe.

There was no all-consuming red flame here; no cold steel-shod boots that clashed on the cobblestones; no dreadful screaming echoing around the empty streets.

Nothing. Just him and his machines.

That being said, he did occasionally want to let people into his little bubble of peace.

Specifically, one person. Ilana.

He liked the way she always looked after him, even when he didn't look after himself; the way she knew his fear and did her best to keep it out of his way.

He liked how she did her hair – a simple ponytail done up with a green bobble (or occasionally, when she was rushed, a cable tie).

He liked that little smile she had that crept around her face, lighting it up and bringing out a natural beauty.

He was stirred from his reverie by the noise of an electrical whirring sound that slowly slowed and then stopped altogether. _The generator! _

The lights dimmed and then cut out in a flash that left purple afterimages dancing around his vision.

A scream penetrated the air.

_Ilana._

Styrka stood up and effortlessly navigated his cluttered workshop (knowing where to step even in the pitch black), exited the open door and clattered down the stairs, two at a time, to the main hall where Ilana stood petrified – unable to even move.

"Ilana!" he said in the darkness.

The sound of her ragged breaths reached his ears.

"Styrka?" she asked in a very small voice. "I can't see you."

"I'm right here." he said, relieved. "Are you alright?"

"I can't see you." she repeated. "I'm...I'm afraid."

Styrka made a decision he thought he'd never make.

He took a small, silver lighter out of his pocket.

He ran his fingertips over the engraved initials "D.I."

His father.

He opened the lighter and forced himself to look.

He flicked the striker and a bright flame appeared, casting its orange glow in a small radius around the two.

Ilana's white face appeared next to him. She gasped at what he had done.

He didn't notice. He was reliving his worst memory.

* * *

The red soldiers came to the house, their steel-shod boots clattering on the cobblestones.

They raised their stubby weapons, the flamethrowers, and the jets of the red demon-fire leapt out and licked at the house.

A brown haired, green eyed boy, barely five years old, was thrown out of a window to save him from the blaze and landed hard on the street.

He stood, helplessly, hearing the dreadful screams of the brown haired man and woman still in the house.

And the red soldiers marched away, leaving the boy completely, utterly alone.

Ilana held the tall man in her arms, the lighter used to light a candle which cast a feeble glow that turned the tears running down his face orange.

"_Anyam." _he wept. "Mother. Father."

Ilana cradled him gently.

"Please. Don't be afraid." she said in a vain hope of bringing the strong, fearless man she so needed back to her. "Come back to me, _szerettet_."

Styrka's eyes opened; orange reflected in green. _Beloved._ He wasn't alone.

He never had been.

He reached out to the candle.

His hand covered the flame, burning some skin off, but snuffing the fire.

He felt at peace. At last.

He looked at her: the flames in his eyes gone; replaced by the glistening of snow.

Enveloped by darkness, he gently kissed the woman who had saved him from himself.

"I am not afraid." he said, a slight shake in his voice, but it remained strong.

"I am with you."

* * *

**Disclaimer: I own all the characters here. So there.  
**

**A/N: Written as a submission for my English folio. Thought that you might want to read some of Forge & Titanium's origin story. **

**This is really just a prelude; the next part of Sleepless; and my new story, dubbed "Bird Magnet" are both being written.**

**Also, it's the summer holidays in the UK so I have SO much more time to write it just isn't true. **

**Bye for now, **

**Tom **


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